Four decades after guitarist Duane Allman’s death, the loss still reverberates. “He always called me ‘baby brah,’ ” his brother and bandmate Gregg Allman says in a fascinating new oral history of this iconic group, One Way Out by Alan Paul. “Had we lived ’til he was 91 and I was 90, I still would have been ‘baby brah.’ ”

Paul, a senior writer for Guitar World magazine, conducted hundreds of original interviews with the surviving band members, managers, producers, spouses, and roadies—and pulled them together into a tome Allman Brothers fans will devour.

See 10 more great quotes from the band and their inner circle, below.

Plus, get a free song download of “Hoochie Coochie Man” from the Allman Brothers Band’s new live album, Play All Night: Live at the Beacon Theatre 1992 by clicking here. Like what you hear? Get your copy of Play All Night on Amazon.com or iTunes.

Gregg Allman reflects on his beloved older brother.“He was always up to something; my brother never got bored. He either had his head in a book, his arm around a woman or his arm around that guitar and it was singing to him.”

Drummer Butch Trucks tells of Duane’s varied literary interests.“Duane read all kinds of things. He loved Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, of course; he named his daughter Galadrielle [after a Rings character]. He also loved T.S. Eliot, and I remember him reading some Frank Herbert [a sci-fi author] and some philosophy.”

Gregg shares his true opinion of the band’s rivals, the Grateful Dead, whom they have shared concert billings with.“The Grateful Dead? Well, I never really thought so much of them.”

Guitarist Dickey Betts looks back on playing with Duane and their legendary twin-guitar sound.“A lot of people assumed Duane was the lead player and I was the rhythm guy … He would really get upset about that and went out of his way to make sure people understood we were a twin-guitar band … We were both damn good, but I didn’t believe in myself the way Duane did.”

Duane Allman. (Getty Images)

At the bands’ January 1995 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Gregg was drunk and incoherent during his speech. He talks about his memories of that day.“I could barely stand up. I meant to stay something about my mother and something about [famed rock promoter] Bill Graham. I meant to say a lot of stuff and I was too gone to say any of it … Afterwards … I watched it on TV and I was mortified, and that’s what it took for me to get serious about cleaning up.”

After the Allman Brothers Band released the album Brothers and Sisters in 1973 and had their first hit single, “Ramblin Man,” the band went from touring in budget vans to jet airliners to get to stadium concerts. They started renting “the Starship,” a customized Boeing 720B made famous by Led Zeppelin and also used by the Rolling Stones and Elton John, among others. Willie Perkins, the band’s road manager, looks back on the extravagance.“The Starship had a bar, a huge couch, a fake fireplace and a bedroom, which Gregg always managed to get in. But the most decadent thing about that plane was just flying it around … It was expensive, man. I can remember making $50,000 bank transfers to the owners.”

Gregg Allman talks about the Allman Brothers Band’s biggest musical influences.“The main initial jazz influence came from [drummer] Jaimoe, who really got all of us into John Coltrane together … I brought the blues to the band and what country you hear comes from Dickey Betts. We all dug different stuff … what came out was a mixture of all of it and that’s what you hear when you put on an Allman Brothers song.”

Rick Hall, president of the famed Muscle Shoals recording studio, talks about the Duane’s idea to cover “Hey Jude” with soul singer Wilson Pickett. The song went on to be a smash hit.“Duane spoke up: ‘Why don’t we do ‘Hey Jude’?’ ” I said, ‘Are you nuts? ‘Hey Jude’ is number four with a bullet and it’s probably going to be number one for the next month and you want to cover the Beatles with Wilson Pickett?’ Duane said, ‘That’s absolutely what we need to do.’ ”

Like so many other longtime bands, the Allman Brothers Band had more than their share of fights and struggles.After one of their blowouts in 2000, Betts was either “laid off” from the band or quit.Betts shares his feelings on the matter.“I’m just real disappointed in the way this all went down, but I’m not going to bad-mouth anybody in print. No matter how nasty those guys can get, I won’t do that to them. But I think the band broke up in 2000 and I think it’s been a copy band ever since.”

Gregg Allman talks about how he and his brother found their sound in the 60s before forming the Allman Brothers Band.“At first, we were playing what everyone else was—the Ventures and other surf music. Then we met up with a group of black guys, including Floyd Miles, one of my best friends to this day. When I was 13 or 14, Floyd … took me over to this convenience/drug/record store and they had this big bin in the middle of the store full of records. And he said, ‘This is James Brown and this is B.B. King and this is Sonny Boy Williamson.’ ”

Order a copy of One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band by Alan Paul here.